A diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser with a GaAs saturable absorption

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched operation of Nd:GdVO₄ laser in which a GaAs crystal is used as the saturable absorber for the first time as far as we know. A maximum average output power of 1.64 W was obtained at an incident pump power of 12 W, the corresponding optical conversion efficiency and peak power were 13.7% and 116.8 W, respectively. The maximum peak energy obtained in the experiment by 50% transmission couple was 19 μJ.     

120 W的二极管泵浦Nd:YAG绿光激光器

对激光二极管泵浦的NdYAG声光调Q腔内倍频固体激光器的折叠腔型进行了研究,当泵浦功率达800 W时,在V型腔上实现了脉宽为80 ns、重复频率为10 kHz、发散角为6 mrad、绿光功率为112 W的输出;在Z型腔上实现了脉宽为95 ns、重复频率为10 kHz、发散角为4 mrad、绿光功率为120 W的输出.比较两种腔型的实验结果可看出,Z型腔由于插入的光学元件较多,腔长较长,输出激光的脉宽较宽,但输出激光的光束质量有明显的提高.     

Compact diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 intracavity-doubled red laser at 671 nm

A design of diode-pumped high efficiency Nd:YVO₄/LBO laser with a compact linear cavity was reported. Employing a type-II noncritical phase-matched LBO crystal, we generated 520 mW of 671 nm in single transverse mode at 6 W of incident pump power, the optical conversion efficiency being 8.7%.     

The analytical investigation of the super-Gaussian pump source on the thermal, stress and thermo-optics properties of double-clad Yb:glass fiber lasers

Fiber lasers have attracted considerable attention when their power can realistically be scaled to kilowatt level and beyond. In this paper, we assumed that the fiber core and first clad are exposed to a pump source with a super-Gaussian profile of order four. The effects of this non-uniform heat deposition on thermal, stress and thermooptics properties such as temperature-dependent change of refractive index and thermally induced stress have been comprehensively studied and their equations analytically derived.     

Diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:GdVO4/KTP green laser formed with a flat–flat resonator

A diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser formed with a flat–flat resonator was demonstrated. 3.05 W of average green output power at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 40 kHz was obtained with an optical conversion efficiency of 18.4%, the effective intracavity frequency-doubling efficiency was 57%. At the incident pump power of 15 W, the shortest laser pulse occurred at PRF of 25 kHz with FWHM width of 14 ns, yielding the highest peak power of 7.44 kW; while the largest pulse energy of 0.14 mJ was achieved at PRF of 15 kHz.     

Electron impact single and double ionization of argon

Stable two-mode, and three-mode oscillations due to the spatial hole burning effect were observed experimentally with the increase of the pump power ratio in a laser-diode pumped sub-nanosecond microchip Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched multimode laser. The stability of the output pulse trains was attributed to the mode coupling through antiphase dynamics between different modes. Modified multimode rate equations including the spatial hole-burning effect in the active medium and the non-linear absorption of the saturable absorber were proposed. Numerical simulations of the antiphase dynamics of such a laser were in good agreement with the experimental data, and the antiphase dynamics were explained by the evolution of the inversion population and the bleaching and recovery of the inversion population of the saturable absorber.     

高功率半导体泵浦固体激光器输出特性的研究

通过实验详细测量了水温、工作电流对二极管激光器发射波长的影响;采用光线追踪法模拟计算出在不同泵浦参数下半导体泵浦光在NdYAG棒内的分布情况,得到了圆周上泵浦模块的个数,泵浦光发散角等因素对泵浦光分布均匀性的影响.采用直接泵浦方式,分别设计了二种不同功率水平的半导体泵浦的NdYAG固体激光器聚光腔,得到了170和800 W的输出功率,并对激光器的输出特性进行详细测量,最大光-光转换效率达37%,电-光转换效率约为16%.     

LD-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4/KTP red laser

LD-pumped actively Q-switched intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO₄/KTP red laser has been introduced. A maximum red average output power of 0.78 W at 671 nm was obtained at pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) of 15 kHz and the optical conversion efficiency was 6.5%. At the incident pump power of 12 W, the shortest laser pulse occurred at PRF of 15 kHz. Its full-width at half-maximum and the highest peak power were measured to be 35.8 ns and 3.38 kW. The largest single pulse energy of 56.3 μJ was achieved at PRF of 10 kHz. The influence factors on the Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/KTP red laser have been discussed.     

Efficient quasi-three-level Nd:YAG laser at 946 nm pumped by a tunable external cavity tapered diode laser

Using a tunable external cavity tapered diode laser (ECDL) pumped quasi-three-level Nd:YAG laser, a fivefold reduction in threshold and twofold increase in slope efficiency is demonstrated when compared to a traditional broad area diode laser pump source. A TEM₀₀ power of 800 mW with 65% slope efficiency is obtained, the highest reported TEM₀₀ power from any 946 nm Nd:YAG laser pumped by a single emitter diode laser pump source. A quantum efficiency of 0.85 has been estimated from experimental data using a simple quasi-three-level model. The reported value is in good agreement with published values, suggesting that the model is adequate. Improvement of the 946 nm laser due to the ECDL's narrow spectrum proves to be less significant when compared to its spatial quality, inferring a broad spectrum tapered diode laser pump source may be most practical. Experimental confirmation of such setup is given.     

Thermal stress effects of the diode-end-pumped Nd:YLF slab

The thermal stress effects of the diode-end-pumped Nd:YLF slab laser crystals are numerically investigated. The theoretical model is established by considering the divergence of the pump beam in the slab and the additional heat generated in the upconversion. Using the three dimensional finite element analyses, accurate numerical solutions based on the theoretical model are achieved. Our analyses focuses on the thermal fracture damage of the Nd:YLF slab under both the lasing and non-lasing conditions, and the predicted values are compared with the experimental results.